Let’s face it. Good pizza matters. You know it, I know it, your neighbors know it. Even your kids know it. It’s important enough that I teach my students about it, and educate them on what pizza is, and what pizza isn’t. (If you don’t know what I mean, the rest of this post might be lost on you.)

I’m not at all a pizza snob. I love the traditional Pizza Hut and Dominos variety. I adore the way California Pizza Kitchen has taken a concept and interpreted it in such brilliant pies as: The BLT, and Pear and Gorgonzola. And I am crazy about Uno’s Chicago Classic Deep Dish.

But NOTHING compares to genuine New York pizza.

I was introduced to Escape from NY pizza in my college years. It was a little piece of heaven every time I happened upon it, and in the early days----it was more of a “happening” than a plan.

When I moved to New York, I figured I would never want for a good slice again. New York has pizza like Portland has coffee. There was the newness of Sicilian pizza, and something I’d never encountered before: White pizza---a sauceless, mozzarella, parmesan pizza with huge circles of Ricotta cheese. Yum.

To walk into a NY pizzeria, and yell “One slice!” would result in an oven-warmed cheese slice in a matter of seconds. And it was always good. Ray’s pizzeria on 111th and 2nd Avenue was one of the best in my well-traveled parts of the city.

But the longer I was in NY, I found that I was always looking for a slice as good as the NY pizza I cut my teeth on in Portland---Escape from NY. And no matter where I tried, it never quite lived up to the ideal of Escape’s perfect slice.

So often, life is like my quest for the ideal. We’ve tasted something once----and in our minds, built up that thing, that quality, that person, that experience so much in our minds----that ever after it diminishes our enjoyment of our present reality.

We think we are missing out---because THIS vacation is not near as fun as the memories of our last one. The new season God is calling us to seems so much harder and stretching than the last. The relationships surrounding us now are great, but wow---if I could just have the same sense of community that was there a few short years ago . . .and on and on . . .

If we make the mistake of romanticizing the past . . .

1) We lie to ourselves about the difficult parts of past experiences

2) We miss the rich experiences of today, in the wishing that it were just a little better

3) We position ourselves to miss the fortune of tomorrow by not accepting our present season; when we don’t accept our present season, we don’t learn its lessons, and so handicap ourselves going into our future where those lessons may be needed

4) We insult God who orchestrates our life---by only being satisfied with “where we’ve been” and “what we’ve known” not allowing Him as the master parent to introduce new flavors and nuances to the palate of our life

And if nothing else on the list fits, we just might miss out on some great pizza.

Kaleidoscope